THE SOCIETY COULD BE FEELING ENSLAVED
BY MONOPOLISTIC TECHNOLOGIES

 

I am writing this article having gone through the latest painful experience out of the ever automatically pushed updates of Window-10 on recurring basis and the latest instance being in last 2-days of hard efforts and have just recovered by re-installation of Windows10 at a home based desktop computer. Let me at the outset say and admit that I am not a computer software developer or an expert in software development, however, I am a computer literate user with reasonable grasp of computer interface from the user point of view and what I am writing here is my experience from the user side. I am using and explaining here, my experience with Windows10 as an example, however, as I believe, worldwide people like me also must be feeling pained and to be getting enslaved by monopolistic technologies in any other fields as well, and must be suffering silently without much of choice, as nothing much can be done about it other than tolerating and waiting for the better delivery of such technoloties. When the technology, especially when such technologies that are a kind of monopoly in the world today, works fine it is very exciting and heartening. However, when it fails and disrupts almost the inevitable dependence, it is quite painful as well. I am not saying there won’t be failures; failures could be possible and without failures, success won’t have the excitement and joy it deserves, however, failures and disruptions due to adventurism and taking the consumer market environment granted and aggressive pushing for the purpose of business and marketing at the cost of customer pains, by the providers of such technologies are more harsh and avoidable.

Starting from MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) that arrived in 1980s until the latest (or near latest) Windows10 version 20H2 of today, I have been using the operating systems developed and sold by Microsoft for the Desktop and Laptop computers for almost 4-decades (40years) that usually come with the PCs (Personal Computers) and Laptop computers purchased new as replacements of old computing devices. I have happily and enjoyably used almost all versions of Windows available for consumer market including its previous versions till the updated version of today and most of the people of the world use it for the popularity, also happily, however the more it has progressed, in order to be market driven and being attacked by the competitors to eat into the market share, the aggressive posturing by Windows 10 while it has brought in lot of excitement for the user in the mass consumer market, it has also been giving repeated pains out of disruptions, that is a cause of serious concern. I am sure the providers of its technology may be making efforts to reduce the user pains, however, there is a strong feeling that some of the induced pains could be avoidable.

The Operating System is the foundation software platform for all software management of a system whether it is a Desktop or Laptop Computer or even a mobile device of the modern day. Although I am not a Computer Software/Hardware expert, however, I consider myself as a reasonably literate computer user having had a fair grasp of the Hardware and Software I use in my computer, whether Desktop or Laptop (in user interface); to manage it without other’s assistance and support. As a user, I am compelled to learn how to handle and manage the Operating System, Application Software and Hardware of my Desktop and Laptop Computers I use at my home, without choice, as I can’t buy the assistance and support from outside vendors or tech-support firms, without choice. When the Desktop and Laptop computers have become almost like the body parts and those are depended on 24-hours basis now a days and a disruption in its service is almost unaffordable now a days, it is almost inevitable now that the Desktop and Laptop Computers at Home, are self-managed at least for its software areas and to a reasonable extent also for its hardware areas. It should be the case with every person and every household in the world today, who are able to afford a Desktop or a Laptop Computer to be used at their Homes.

Initially as per my experience, MS-DOS of the 1980s was just the non-graphical operating system [ without Graphical User Interface (GUI) ] to manage the CPU, Hard Disk or External Disks storing and maintaining data/information in a most stable manner in allowing the operation of the computer along with other application based software with it in the most stable and disruption-free manner at its times. Then the MS-DOS metamorphosed into Windows with Graphical User Interface (GUI) based operating system with launch of Windows 1.0 in 1985. Then it ran with a version change almost every 2-3years to launch Windows 2.1, Windows 286, Windows 386.  by adding new features in GUI areas until it placed Windows 3.0 in 1990. The Windows 3.0 continued with its extended versions as Windows 3.1x  such as Windows 3.1 and 3.12 until 1994. With changing versions and shift from MS-DOS to MS Windows made the Microsoft Operating System most popular worldwide, almost a Monopolist in the Desktop and Laptop Computer market leaving Apple’s MAC-OS far behind with a very low market share.

In 1995 almost as a grand launch, Windows 1995 was launched by Microsoft to create a very big hype Globally and continued its monopolistic position in the Desktop and Laptop market. After close to 5years in 2001, Windows XP was launched as another break through and one of the most admired operating system of its time and even until today (at its level) and ruling the Consumer Operating System market of the world almost monopolistically (In this article I am referring to Windows in Consumer Operating System Market; while Microsoft has placed several varieties of Operating Systems in parallel for Sever as well as Enterprise use that I am not referring to). Windows 1995 and Windows XP were considered very stable and almost trouble free Operating Systems in most harsh use conditions in a Desktop and Laptop Computer for an admirably longer time frame.

After 5years further, in 2006 Window Vista was launched however, it did not stand out due consumer criticism and thus, quickly Windows 7 was brought into the market in 2009 with outstanding success and it has been regarded as a far stable version with more features and less of troubles for the consumer operating systems market and it has been very popular globally that is consistent with my experience as an user of the Consumer market. In quick succession to Window 7 although Windows 8.x (8.1 and 8.2) were placed it was subjected to consumer criticism and did not cut much of ice for the popularity Windows enjoyed in its previous versions.

After Windows XP(launch in 2001) which in fact founded and widely expanded the Windows presence with very solid and wide base almost as a monopolist in the Operating Systems Market globally with both expansion of consumer user numbers very rapidly and exponentially, especially in the Desktop, Servers and Laptop market, Microsoft has been running very rapidly with Version changes to cope with the market share retention pressure it has to face, with the exponential growth of Mobile Computing Market where the Mobile Phones became the new preferred hand held machine (even replacing the Desktops and Laptops to a large extent)  in the hands of the consumers of the World. Some statement of information on this phenomena provided here below:   

In the area of desktop and laptop computers, Microsoft Windows is the most commonly installed OS, at approximately between 77% and 87.8% globally. Apple's macOS accounts for approximately 9.6–13%, Google's Chrome OS is up to 6% (in the US) and other Linux distributions are at around 2%. All these figures vary somewhat in different markets, and depending on how they are gathered.

( Source: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems as on 23-Feb-2021)

Thus, as on today Microsoft Windows still holds a minimum market share of 77% Globally within a range 77% to 88% of market share varying with the locations around the world in the desktop and laptop computers market and is a near monopolist in this business sector of the technology globally.

However, in all computing devices consumer market put together globally (Desktop, Laptop and Mobile Devices/Mobile Phones included), Google’s Android operating system is the Market Leader now with 37.5% market share leaving behind Windows at 35.8% and Apple’s iOS at 15.5% market share today. The below statement explains it:

According to Net Applications, which tracked the use of operating systems in devices that are active on the Web, Windows was the most used operating-system family on personal computers in April 2020, with around 88% usage share. Including personal computers of all kinds (e.g., desktops, laptops, mobile devices, and game consoles), Windows OSes accounted for 35.84% of usage share in May 2020, compared to Android (highest, at 37.48%), iOS's 15.52%, and macOS's 8.61%, according to StatCounter, which tracks use of operating systems by their use in devices active on the Web. Windows is used in less than half the market, not only in developing countries, but also in developed ones – such as the United States, where use of Windows on desktops, on which it is the plurality operating system, has fallen to 61% in Dec. 2020, compared to 31% for macOS, while for personal computers of all kinds Windows's share is down to 29.66%, less than iOS (meaning iPhones and iPadOS for iPads) at 31.43%. It must be noted, that servers (including so-called cloud computing, while Microsoft is known not to be a leader; and also uses Linux more than Windows) is not counted in the statistics (and iOS has no such use), as StatCounter uses web browsing as a proxy for all use.

( Source: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows as on 23-Feb-2021)

 

There is no dispute under the present situation that; while Microsoft Windows faces the pressure of retaining the market share in the total personal computing devices consumer market (Desktops, PCs, Tablets and Mobile Devices/Mobile Phones all considered together) as Android OS of Google has made greater in-road into the total computing devices market today. Being under pressure to retain the market share in the operating system of the computing technology; in 2014, Microsoft therefore came out with Windows 10 Operating System which is supposed to be the most modern version, comprehensive and integrated platform, with strong security as well as feature heavy to make it quite exciting for the computer operating system user in the mass consumer market.

Still as on today, in the Desktop and Laptop Systems, the Microsoft Windows ( latest being Window 10 ) remains the near monopolist that would be visible from the data presented below:

 As a percentage of desktop systems, according to Net Applications data from October 2020 and StatCounter data from December 2020

Desktop OS	Net Applications	StatCounter
older versions	0.00%	0.03%
Windows XP	0.87%	0.61%
Windows Vista	0.11%	0.31%
Windows 7	20.93%	13.80%
Windows 8	0.42%	0.84%
Windows 8.1	2.54%	3.02%
Windows 10	62.16%	57.94%
All versions	87.03%	76.56%

 (N.B.: Mobile market share is very low at under 0.1% for all versions combined).

               ( Source: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows as on 23-Feb-2021)

 

While Microsoft Windows still enjoys a near Monopoly in Desktop/Laptop Operating System market globally with 77% to 87% market share in this market, it goes without saying and it is well understood that Windows 10 is being pushed and driven with much adventure, aggression and ambition; that is pushing the user of the Desktop and Laptop installed with Window 10 operating system too  much and to rub on the wrong side to create pains of disruptions for the user in the consumer operating systems market.

Now Windows 10 is being marketed at one stroke, something like, an Operating System, a Multi-feature Utility App (Application Software) as well as even a Search Engine kind of platform. A screenshot image of one click of the Start Button of Windows 10 Version 20H2 ( the latest/near latest version as on today ) is presented below in order to justify this statement :

Too much integration of allied application features domain in it, while making Windows 10 very exciting, at the same time it is also making it vulnerable for disruptions in the market. Due to market share retention pressure or feedback of operation, for whatever reasons, too many updates of Windows are being launched at short intervals and pushed into the Personal Computers through the internet by automatic route. Due to too much of short interval updates being pushed in Windows 10 for whatever such said reasons with lot of aggression through internet and online by automatic route, there are painful disruptions that have been happening repeatedly in Windows 10 at the user level in Consumer Operating Systems Market, that could be a potential back fire for the Monopolist Technology Provider.

Due to disruptions happening in Windows 10 operation owing to frequent pushing of updates via internet and automatic route; while sometimes it is not compatible to the PC operation it is a real and serious issue. I have to almost painfully re-install Windows 10 and again reload time taking historical updates once almost every 3-4 months since I have acquired Windows 10 through a New Desktop Hardware in August 2019; it has been really very painful and has killed lot of time non-productively. Only one day back, the Start (Home) Button along with the Task Bar of Windows 10 of the Desktop got frozen somehow and it could not be possible to be rectified by any of the trouble shooting facilities given in the Windows 10 internally or externally available through internet, even after spending nearly 1-full day trying to avoid a reinstall of Windows 10. There was in fact, no choice other than to reinstall the Windows 10 from my Officially purchased CD and going back to square-1 at 2015 ( the initial version of Windows 10 purchased in a CD) and coming back to the Windows 10 latest Version  20H2 of today in 2021 by loading all historical updates through a time taking process. In the process, all the Apps had to be re-installed almost spending close to another half a day. The loss of time and down time of the Desktop Computer installed with Window 10 due to reinstalling and reloading because of disruptions on account of forced pushed in Updates of Windows 10 automatically by the Monopolist Technology Provider has been really very painful. Though the Windows 10 Operating System is looking very great and works very well and quite exciting to use and the features are also great when it works well; however, the disruptions of it when happens due to the Technology Provider’s intervention and aggressing marketing and intervention effort in the market, have been equally painful as well.

I haven’t seen such disruptions so common as I have experienced in Window 10, in the previous versions of Windows I have used as I said for almost 40-years since its launch of MS-DOS in 1980s. I have also used the Operating Systems of the Mobile Phones, particularly the Mobile Phones working with Android (in general Mobile Phones) and iOS (in iPhones of Apple) operating systems for years together since those have been in market,  such disruptions have not been experienced.

How could Window 10, which is a kind of monopolist Operating System in the Desktop/Laptop Computers Consumer Market globally, with 77% to 87% market share due to its established popularity, afford to induce this kind of disruptions with aggressively pushed in updates and marketing efforts and not be mindful of its consequences for the consumer mass market of personal computers? Providing additional features that are also available in the market plentily through other application software (called commonly now as the Apps), can be happier occasions when it works well, however when it is the cause of the disruptions, it is very painful.  Having no other alternative and choice other than to go with this monopolistic operating system (as other operating systems are not affordable or less affordable in mass consumer situations), it is felt as if one is getting enslaved to such monopolistic technologies in the World. My feelings and experiences may be harboured by many people of the world who may be getting pained due to such disruptions and failures, on account of the Operating System, the modern day Window 10, which is a fundamental need for maintenance of a Personal Computer whether a Desktop or a Laptop Computer that is most essential in the today’s life.

I wrote out of my experience with Windows 10 as an example. May be in other areas of monopolistic technologies also, I believe, the Society would be getting the feeling of being enslaved by monopolistic technologies and has to go through the pain silently and waiting for better things to happen and it cannot be ruled out. Most of the times, the consumers have no choice but to tolerate these pains silently and given the choice of equivalent technologies, may not be possible/affordable in specific situations. The providers of such monopolistic technologies need to be empathetic to the disruptions that can be potentially created and burdened on the consumer mass market; in their adventurous journey to do massive businesses out of the technologies in world scale.

[ This article is written out of personal experience giving explanations for the readers here, only giving the instance of Windows 10 as an example and not intended to infringe upon the right and reputation or business of any organization or Windows 10 in any way and no liability can be assigned on this article. A due Disclaimer to that effect. ]

About the Author : Dr. Nimain Charan  Biswal is a B.Sc.(Agri. Science and Technology), M.B.A. and Ph.D.(Management Area ) by qualifications and he has 35 years of work experience in both  industrial and development sectors in diversified fields of social importance. He has been educated at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT)-Bhubaneswar, Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) and Gujarat University (with Resource Support of IIM-Ahmedabad). Dr.Biswal is further educated at IIM-Calcutta, XLRI-Jamshedpur, Apple Computer Industries and Spar Inc., USA. He has worked for reputed National and International Organisations in Senior/Top Management Capacities. He is a management expert covering extensive areas from management in agriculture, industrial management, development management to management of public systems. He is a prominent professional of India and known Internationally as well. He lives at Mumbai in India.